Nancy Pelosi is not stepping down from leadership

Yesterday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sidestepped questions about her future as leader of her party in the House of Representatives. Pelosi, who has been in Congress since 1993 and held the role as leader of House Democrats since 2003 (including two terms as Speaker), only told reporters that her plans would be announced this morning.

Politico is reporting this morning that Pelosi will remain in her current role as House Minority Leader, ending the speculation that had been in the air for several weeks, going back before.

The questions about Pelosi’s began when she scheduled elections for Democratic leadership some time after Thanksgiving, which, according to aides cited by Politico, meant that she could be “getting out of leadership and want[ed] to give someone else a chance to organize a movement against Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the long-time number two; or she’s simply buying time to consider her future if Democrats fall short of the majority.”

There was speculation that Pelosi, who oversaw $5 trillion in new debt added during four years as Speaker, would retire after losing the majority during the 2010 mid-term, but she vowed that Democrats would come back to power after this year’s election. That obviously didn’t happen, though they picked up a handful of seats,and it’s unlikely to happen in 2014 due to a number of districts being made more Republican-friendly thanks to the redistricting process.